The care and breeding of bluebirds

Sometimes we mistakenly believe that if there is a problem on the planet, some group of distinguished scientists somewhere will lead the charge to fix it.

But when it comes to the plight of bluebirds, it took an ordinary citizen, Dick Purvis of Anaheim, to recognize that bluebird populations had plummeted in Southern California and to discover the reason.

It turns out the problem was twofold. Old-growth trees, particularly with holes and rotted-out cavities that Purvis calls dead snags, were removed for housing developments and are still regularly cleared from parks.

Then the bigger, stronger, European starlings and pesky English sparrows, both imported birds that made their way west, bullied bluebirds from the few remaining sites suitable to raise their young.

Enter Purvis, who began to turn the boat around by building bluebird nesting boxes that kept starlings and sparrows out.

"My family and I were having a picnic at O'Neill Park in 1984," Purvis said. "I spotted a pair of bluebirds, and it occurred to me that I hadn't seen a single one in decades."

Purvis recalls a nesting box he had as a child in Georgia. "Everybody in the South had them because bluebirds are so entertaining. In fact, the rumor is that Native Americans began the trend by hanging gourds for the birds."

Purvis hung his first hand-built box in Featherly Park and had a pair of nesting bluebirds his first year.

Twenty-eight years later, he isn't the only person bringing bluebirds back from the brink. Hundreds of members of the Southern California Bluebird Club hang bluebird boxes in golf courses, parks and cemeteries across the county and fledge thousands of bluebirds per year.

Last week, members of the North American Bluebird Society met in Costa Mesa to exchange ideas, learn about birds and hit a few of the hot birding spots in the county.

Steven Simmons of Merced figures he has fledged more than 93,000 birds over the years, mostly wood ducks and owls, in addition to bluebirds – all cavity nesters with the same problem finding homes.

Jim Semelroth has been monitoring 40 boxes at parks and golf courses in Irvine and Laguna Niguel. His initial interest was much like Purvis'.

"I was walking in Laguna Niguel Regional Park and I saw a flash of blue," he said. "It was the first bluebird I'd seen since I was a kid in Illinois."

Semelroth estimates he fledges a few hundred bluebirds every year in his monitoring region.

Backyard birding enthusiast and Register freelancer Jennifer J. Meyer said woodpeckers play a part in the bluebird's demise.

"Woodpeckers use the dead snags first and create the cavity that bluebirds would move into the following season," she said. "With dead trees regularly removed from private properties and parks, woodpeckers are declining, too."

One group helping out on the woodpecker front is the Heritage Garden group at Costa del Sol in Mission Viejo. They have left their dead Agave americana bloom stalks in the landscape so that woodpeckers have a place to nest and a chance to increase their numbers.

Purvis guesses there were about 10 bluebird pairs in Orange County in 1984. Today he and his group fledge from 2,000 active boxes placed around the county, estimating that at least 2,000 mating pairs are each laying up to five eggs per clutch.

There is more to helping bluebirds than hanging nesting boxes. Volunteers monitor the boxes during the April-through-July breeding season and keep a lookout for string and Easter grass that can strangle the chicks. They also monitor for bees, ants and other predators.

Bluebirds are friendly birds and are fairly calm when approached. "They seem to know we are there to help," said Purvis.

Elena Hery has hand-trained the bluebirds in her Laguna Niguel back yard.

"They were very bold from the first day I hung the nest box up in our back yard," she said. "It took only a few days to get them to come to me. They fly down and take mealworms right out of my hand."

Bluebirds are desperate for breeding opportunities. Purvis told a story about showing schoolchildren how he hangs his bluebird boxes. As he lifted the box into the sky to demonstrate, a bluebird flew right in.

There is nothing scientific about it. Helping a species like bluebirds is something individuals can do. And they are doing it in droves in areas where housing developments have put pressure on cavity-nesting birds. Bluebird groups have sprung up across the nation.

If you'd like to pitch in, contact Socalbluebirds.org and ask about opportunities to monitor or build boxes for the organization. All ages are welcome.